Why do you model the backwoods?

[darrylhuffman]

I grew up in a small desert town that once housed much of the Chinese workers for the SP.

About 1/4th of the town was "Chinatown" which had been abandoned. Chinatown was filled with old wooden, false front buildings with a maze of tunnels underground.

Chinatown was fenced off and posted with No Trespassing signs and guarded by one Chinese man with a long pigtail who carried a meat cleaver around with him to scare off the kids.

I got a real taste for old weather-beaten buildings as a kid.

Every summer my parents took me to Arkansas where my grand parents lived in cabin in the woods without electicity, running water or a telephone. There was an area back behind the shed for squatting to go to the bathroom.

Scared me to death as a kid but I loved the old buildings downtown in the village of about 150 people.

When I got old enough to drive, it was just an hour up into the Sequoias for some cool air.

Back then you could really go exploring and I found a couple of old mines and a small mill to prowl around in.

All those factors really combined to make me want to understand what life must have been like back then and the love of old, backwoods buildings is still with me today, over 60 years later.

Darryl Huffman
darrylhuffman@yahoo.com

[NEMMRRC]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Darryl. I look forward to more of your contributions.

Jaime

[rebel]

Yah, you used to be able to explore, now you take your life in your hands just trecking in the woods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MRDawg]

When I was a kid, Dad used to take me all over the mountain on our 4-wheeler. We would go on all kinds of trails and sometimes go turkey or squirrel hunting. It's sad I can't do the same with my kid. No one knows their neighbors anymore or what may be out in those woods. I'd hate to get shot at for just exploring nature.

[Geared Steam]

This is a slow thread, so let me bump it back up.
I was born and raised in the lumber town of Libby MT, up in the NW corner of the state. My family had been involved in logging here since the 1905. My great grandfather and grandfather had both worked as brakeman, fireman and engineers for J.Neils, then later St. Regis Lumber Co. Of course shays were involved in the early years, and when my grandfather retired in the 1970's he was running the switcher in the mill, interchanging chip and lumber cars with the BN.

The mill is long gone, and so is grandpa (below)



Its only natural for me to be interested in a logging layout, and I threw mining in the mix as well. Although I'm not modeling the area I grew up in , I chose to protofreelance an area 300 miles away in the Bonner MT area. Bonner was a sawmill town on the NP and Milwaukee Road mainlines (I'm a MILW road fan), and the Milwaukee Road had a branch line that went up the Big Blackfoot River to serve a logging landing in the early 1900's. This is where my freelance license takes over, Gold was discovered up the Blanchard Creek watershed, a connecting valley off the Blackfoot branch, the mine company built a branch line up the valley to the new established town of Wolf Prairie, the branch serves the mine, town and small sawmill (which supports the mine).



I have a small layout, and the track and most of the scenery in, I still need to complete some small areas, then I will begin on the fine details. I hope to build a structure in the future to house a larger railroad in the back yard, but for now concentrating on other life goals, meanwhile I use this to learn and fine tune the skills it takes to build a great layout.

Thanks for reading. More stuff on my blog here.
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolf-prairie.html

[NEMMRRC]

Thanks for the bump. I'd forgotten about this side of the forum.

Jaime

[Port Hapless]

I like small locomotives mainly, I don't model the backwoods, but I'm more interested in a small port. My railroad is set on an island with no connections to the mainland other than car ferries and railroad car floats and will have a small backwoods feel to it.

[NEMMRRC]

The problem with using HO track for Sn3 is that you'd end up with the track being just a tad off. One would need to regauge all rolling stock and motive power or swap HO mechanisms in the locomotives.

Handlaying track may be a more suitable alternative. Fast Tracks (http://www.handlaidtrack.com) makes some great jigs for all that.

Jaime

[ranny9]

makes done greats jigs for all that.

Jaime

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[gnatshop]

makes done greats jigs for all that.
Jaime

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Stick with what you're doin', Randy, and don't get distracted!